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Wed, 24 Sep 2008
Over the past 25 years, as our nation has disassembled its manufacturing base and shipped those jobs elsewhere, we've heard over and over again about how that's ok, because those kind of "old economy" jobs were the thing of the past and the "new economy" would provide lots of jobs in finance, service, software, design, and management. We were all supposed to become "knowledge workers", according to Peter Drucker. In the new economy assets are "minds rather than machines," said George Gilder. The new economy was to be clean, smooth and prosperous.
Admittedly, we haven't heard much about all this lately. Gilder's newsletter and web site empire collapsed after the technology stock crash in 2000-2001. Some of the other cheerleaders have gone to ground, while others have said they were right all along -- about different predictions. But the truth is that the events of the past year, and especially the past week, have made everyone a little skittish about imagining an economic future that depends on finance. (Except securities lawyers, who are going to have a little boom of their own over the next few years as the sub-prime mess gets untangled.)
22:47 - 24 Sep 2008 [/y8/cols] link
Sat, 20 Sep 2008
A couple of weeks ago, Bill Connelly, a candidate for state senate district 36 in North Kingstown and Narragansett, handed me a flyer. I put it in my pocket, and checked it out when I got home. It had a nice picture and capsule bio. For policy planks in his platform, it had only four bullet points. I was particularly interested in two: One said, "Increase state aid to education" and right after it was, "Hold the state to spending and taxing limits."
Well, golly, when you put it like that, it sounds pretty good. Easy, too. I mean why didn't anyone think of that before? But why stop there, let's just eliminate all taxes and make the schools better, too. Or maybe offer us all free commuting helicopters? Better yet, free ice cream and cookies at every meal!
Now, in fairness, Bill is a perfectly nice gentleman, and his opponent, incumbent Sen. James Sheehan, though an energetic and effective legislator, is not widely regarded as a fiscal prodigy. But really, candidates shouldn't even think they can run with this kind of empty and self-contradictory platform.
Though my exalted peers at publications further up the journalistic food chain balk at taking it on, it is role of the press to call politicians on stuff like this, and here I am, published in newspapers and online. So this is my challenge to you. In mid-October, I'm going to award prizes for the most absurd campaign literature I run across (2008, Rhode Island general election), and I'm inviting your nominations.
Don't submit any just for bad photos or slogans, please. I'm interested in flyers or letters that promise the unattainable or the contradictory. So when some candidate tries to hand you their flyer, take it, and look it over. If you get a candidate letter in the mail, read it, and if you learn about a candidate's web site, go there and check it out. If you think you've found something that can beat my example here, send it in for judging by a panel of impartial judges I'll appoint. (You can send nominations for judgeships, too. After all, vying for judgeships is traditional in politics.) Send your nominations to me electronically, or c/o The Times Newsroom, 23 Exchange Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860. Enter by October 15 or so. May the best candidate win!
02:08 - 20 Sep 2008 [/y8/cols] link
Do you want change or just to shout about it?
As perhaps you know by now, the state ended the last fiscal year around $33 million in the red, and the accusations and counter-accusations are flying. There are some important misconceptions flying around, though, and it's worth clearing some of them up. So last week I spent some time reading the preliminary financial report for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
For one thing, several reports have pointed out that the Department of Human Services is where the bulk of the overspending seems to have occurred. You might think, "Aha! It's because we still spend too much on social services." But in fact, the overspending appears to be that the DHS administration had promised $19 million in general revenue operational savings that they were unable to achieve. That is, someone high on the chain of command appears to have decided they could peel off that much spending while not affecting service, and it didn't happen. In reality, looking only at state tax dollars, every single division of DHS was under their original budget, except for Medicaid, which was over by $641,000, or less than 0.1%.
02:05 - 20 Sep 2008 [/y8/cols] link
Sat, 13 Sep 2008
The primary is behind us and the election looms. This November, you'll see a Rhode Island tradition on the ballot: the Transportation bond. Every two years, since at least the DiPrete administration, Rhode Islanders are asked to approve another huge round of bonds for roads. Ho hum, isn't that how people build roads?
Well no. Virtually no other states fund their roads this way. Sure lots of states borrow for a specific highway here or a bridge there. But we borrow for no specific project, an astonishingly wasteful practice.
At this point, DOT borrows about $40 million a year, no matter what. We use that money to match federal dollars that are awarded on the proviso that the state come up with a 10% or 20% match to the funds. We spend the sum on whatever projects are at the top of the list.
00:18 - 13 Sep 2008 [/y8/cols] link
Sat, 06 Sep 2008
A Landmark report, but when can we read it?
This week I decided to spend some time researching just why Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket is in trouble. For those who don't live in Woonsocket, or haven't been paying attention, Landmark is broke. Its CEO has left, and the enterprise is in the hands of a court-appointed "special master" who is trying to keep it afloat while a savior can be recruited.
I quickly learned the troubles extend well beyond Landmark, to the other community hospitals. These troubles are well documented, and were the subject of an extended report a year ago by a blue-ribbon "Community Hospital Task Force", which included staff from the departments of Health and Human Services, the Lt. Governor's staff, various hospitals, the Health Insurance Commissioner and more.
Fairly well masked by the technical language, here's one thing I learned from it: insurers pay hospitals very different rates for exactly the same services. Getting an appendix removed at Rhode Island Hospital costs your insurance company a much different amount than getting it removed at Landmark.
01:02 - 06 Sep 2008 [/y8/cols] link
Fri, 05 Sep 2008
As Another Ridership Record is Set, RIPTA Adds More Service
Oh, wait. I meant "MBTA". Darn. Why can't we keep up with Massachusetts on transit?
16:21 - 05 Sep 2008 [/y8/se] link
New Management at RIPTA won't help, but money might
RIPTA got itself a new board chair last week. John Rupp, Governor Carcieri's newest appointment to the board, succeeded Robert Batting, who resigned after being outvoted in an effort to ease the agency's managing director out the door.
These are obviously troubled times at the transit agency, and, as usual, money is at the bottom of it all. The agency is having a bunch of problems all at the same time, which makes it seem like one big fiasco. These are the important parts of the story:
16:20 - 05 Sep 2008 [/y8/cols] link
Mon, 01 Sep 2008
From an Eagle Forum candidate questionnaire in the 2006 Alaska Governor's race:
11. Are you offended by the phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?Sarah Palin: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I'll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.
The pledge of allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a minister, and didn't include the words "under God". It was re-drafted a couple of times in the early 20th century, but it wasn't until an act of Congress in 1954 that the words were inserted into the Pledge.
Is it too much to ask that the prospective leaders of our country not be ignorant of its history?
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